The Annawan Bravettes shoot for their second straight sectional title Thursday night, and a familiar postseason foe stands in the way.

The Bravettes (27-2) play Hinckley-Big Rock (18-12) for the Class 1A Illinois Valley Sectional championship at 7:30 p.m. Annawan and H-BR met in the opening round of the Class 1A Midland Sectional last season, with the Bravettes eliminating the Lady Royals 53-32.

The Bravettes and Lady Royals have a common opponent on the season — the Newark Lady Norsemen.

Newark defeated H-BR twice during the regular season, both by scores of 51-41 on Dec. 3 and Jan. 3, while Annawan blasted Newark 46-21 in Monday night’s sectional semifinal.

Annawan coach Jason Burkiewicz isn't concerned so much with the opposition during his team's postseason march, but rather the mindset of his Bravettes.

"We just want to continue to play our game," said Burkiewicz following Monday's semifinal win over Newark. "We've had our hearts broken plenty in the past when we thought we should've been moving on. I think we've got inside our own heads too much. We are focused and committed to making a team beat us. We want a team to have to come out and beat us and that's all we're thinking about."

Last year's Elite 8 loss to LeRoy serves as a painful reminder of an opportunity that slipped away.

"Last year's super- sectional game we had 28 more attempts at the basket than LeRoy and lost by three points," said Burkiewicz. "We know that was on us and we want to keep that from happening again. We can take a loss, but only when they come out and beat you."

The Bravettes demonstrated that focus Burkiewicz talks about in the semis against the once-beaten Lady Norsemen Monday. After falling behind 8-4 early, Annawan rattled off 21 straight points to bury Newark. Celina VanHyfte led the way again for the Bravettes with 18 points, but Burkiewicz is quick to note his team is much more than its all-state junior center.

"We've had contributions all year. Our second leading scorer usually differs quite a bit," said Burkiewicz. "It's mainly Megan (Foes), but the thing is many of them can knock down the three-ball and that stretches the defense for us. We have four or five kids with a lot of confidence that can knock down the three-ball and that's huge."

After losing three starters from last year's 30-2 team, Burkiewicz wasn't sure what to expect from his youthful 2012-13 squad that starts four juniors and a freshman.

"This year I really didn't know what we were going to get out of this group in the beginning," said Burkiewicz. "They came to practice to work. Sometimes being that young I think really helps us in some situations because they're a little naive to it, they don't think about it too much and don't think about it being their last game."

Page 2 of 2 - Tonight's winner advances to the Illinois Wesleyan Super-Sectional Monday night to play the winner of the Fisher Sectional, where LeRoy and Iroquois West meet for the title.

Wins by Annawan and LeRoy tonight would mean a repeat of last season’s super-sectional matchup at Illinois Wesleyan.